Govt recalls three envoys, appoints five

Kathmandu, December 27

The government has recalled ambassadors from South Korea, Spain and Bangladesh, accusing them of poor performance.

Minister of Communications and Information Technology Gukul Baskota today said the three ambassadors had been given three weeks to return from their respective missions.

The then CPN-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal-led coalition government had appointed Arjun Bahadur Singh, Bharat Rayamajhi and Choplal Bhusal asambassadors to South Korea, Spain and Bangladesh, respectively, in February 2017.

Dahal was leading a coalition government with the Nepali Congress and Rastriya Prajatantra Party. Singh and Bhusal are NC sympathisers, while Rayamajhi is close to the RPP. Bhusal is married to NC whip Pushpa Bhusal.

However, the government didn’t recall ambassador to Japan and Sri Lanka, Pratibha Rana and Prof Bishwambher Pyakuryal, respectively. Both were appointed on the NC quota by the Dahal-led government. Rana is mother-in-law of NC President Sher Bahadur Deuba.

The government has also nominated five career diplomats as ambassadors of different countries and the United Nations permanent mission in Geneva. Joint Secretary Mani Prasad Bhattarai has been appointed as ambassador to the UN permanent mission of Nepal in Geneva, as well as Switzerland.

Joint secretaries Ganesh Prasad Bhattarai, Bhrigu Dhungana, Deepak Adhikari and Durga Prasad Bhandari were appointed ambassadors to Thailand, Canada, France and Kuwait, respectively.

Baskota said a final decision on Nepal’s ambassador to Australia Lucky Sherpa, who has been accused of human trafficking by her driver, would be taken soon. “The government is studying the probe committee’s report,” he said.

The decision to recall and appoint ambassadors was taken during Cabinet meetings held on December 21 and 24.